ENSURE project officially launched with kick-off meeting in Patrasfévrier 20, 2025

The ENSURE project — Emergency Responders Upskilling System for Enhanced Resilience and Innovation — officially launched with its kick-off meeting on 20–21 February 2025 in Patras, Greece.

Hosted under the coordination of the University of Patras, the meeting brought together project partners from across Europe to establish the foundations for the next three years of collaboration. The consortium used the meeting to align on the project’s objectives, discuss the work plan, validate key skills, and agree on the next steps for developing a new training framework for emergency responders.

ENSURE responds to the increasing challenges faced by firefighters and first responders in the context of climate-related disasters, including wildfires, floods and extreme weather events. The project aims to strengthen preparedness, operational coordination, innovation capacity and long-term resilience in disaster response.

A central focus of the kick-off meeting was the project’s work on emerging professional needs in the emergency response sector. ENSURE will build on the ESCO 5411.1 firefighter profile and contribute to the development of four new sub-profiles: Disaster Response Technologist, International Disaster Response Coordinator, Community Resilience and Engagement Officer, and Mental Health and Resilience Trainer for Emergency Services.

Partners also discussed the role of interactive and scenario-based training methods, including workshops, gamification and digital learning tools. These approaches will support the project’s wider capacity-building intervention, which includes self-paced open courses, virtual mentoring, mobility activities and Train-the-Trainers workshops.

The Patras kick-off meeting marked the beginning of a shared European effort to equip emergency responders with the skills, tools and collaborative practices needed to face increasingly complex disaster environments.